Kentucky Derby 2013 | Mane Character: Black Onyx

Apr. 24, 2013

• Family ties: Black Onyx is by Rock Hard Ten out of the Cape Town mare Kalahari Cat. Rock Hard Ten just missed running in the 2004 Kentucky Derby. He finished second in the Santa Anita Derby but was disqualified to third and lacked enough graded-stakes earnings to make the field at Churchill Downs. He was the runner-up to Smarty Jones in the Preakness.

• How he got here: Black Onyx won the $550,000, Grade III Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes on Turfway Park’s artificial surface on March 23 by 1½ lengths, claiming 50 points in the new Derby qualifying system. He was made a late Derby nominee immediately after the 1 1/8-mile Spiral. He is 3-1-0 in five career starts and 2 for 2 since moving to trainer Kelly Breen from Carl Domino.

• Running style: “He’s kind of an off-the-pace horse, and he has a nice turn of foot when asked,” Breen said. “When you step on the gas, he accelerates pretty quickly.”

• Trainer: Black Onyx will be the fourth Derby horse for Breen, who spoke from his home state of New Jersey on Monday. Pants on Fire finished ninth in 2011, and he had a double entry of West Side Bernie (ninth) and Atomic Rain (16th) in 2009. Breen won the 2011 Belmont Stakes with Ruler on Ice.

• Owner: Miami’s Sam Herzberg’s operation is named Sterling Racing and is Breen’s first client other than George and Lori Hall, for whom he has been a private trainer. Herzberg met Breen through friend/jockey Joe Bravo, who rides often for Breen and is now aboard Black Onyx. Herzberg was in New Orleans to see Breen-trained Pants on Fire win the 2011 Louisiana Derby, and they celebrated together afterward. He chose Breen to take over Black Onyx’s training this year, and it’s a been a winning match. “He’s very inquisitive,” Breen said. “He wants to know what’s going on with the horse, and when you’re 2 for 2 for a guy, things are just peachy.”

• Jockey: Bravo has two 16th-place finishes in the Derby —2009 aboard Breen’s Atomic Rain and 2005 with Spanish Chestnut. He has more than 4,800 career victories. He and Breen have a longtime relationship, including largely through their time in New Jersey racing, and they helped each other win meet riding and training titles at Monmouth Park.

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• What they say: “He’s taking to the track pretty good,” Breen said. “I didn’t have him when he ran on the dirt, and he ran well on the dirt, although not nearly as well as he did on the Polytrack last time out. But he had a really good workout over it last weekend, and then this previous weekend, we took it easy with him, not trying to go so fast and keep a little bit in the tank for next weekend, then hopefully have a lot more in the tank for the first Saturday in May.”

• Black beauty: Fitting for his name, the horse’s nearly black coat, plus a long white blaze, is striking as he walks in the grazing lawn outside Barn 41 each day. Groom Jose Orntes said the colt, who loves carrots, is called “Black” or “Big Black” around the barn.

• Barn notes: Black Onyx was the first Derby contender to arrive at Churchill Downs, on March 27, four days after the Spiral at Turfway, allowing him to get better and better acquainted with Churchill’s track as he transitions back to dirt racing. Herzberg purchased Black Onyx, bred in Kentucky by Clover Leaf Farms, as a yearling for $125,000. Orntes, the groom from Guatemala, has been in racing for 20 years, including the past four working with Breen, and Black Onyx is his first Derby horse.